The Distillery

The
Glen Scotia distillery was founded in 1832 and not in 1835 as mentioned
on the bottle, by Stewart Galbraith under the name of Scotia Distillery.
The business was very good at the end of the 19th century, and the owner had
to buy another distillery in order to satisfy a growing demand. He choose the
Glen Nevis distillery, also settled in Campbeltown.
Later, the Glen Scotia was taken over by W.H.M.D. (West Highland
Malt Distillers), a society created in 1919 by a blender and whisky broker group.
The aim was to
face the crisis whisky industry crossed in the Campbeltown area in those days.
This crisis was made even worse by the politics of the distilleries favouring
the productivity to the detriment of the quality. The reputation of the area
was getting very bad abroad. WHMD also owned Glengoyle, Dalintober, Kinloch and
Ardlussa, all this distilleries being closed for a while now. Five years later,
the group was bankrupt.
Duncan Mac Callum, one of the managers of WHMD decided to go on on its own, but
had to close the distillery in 1928. He committed suicide in 1930 in the Campbell
Loch. According to local tradition, his ghost is still haunting the distillery.
The distillery was taken over by the Bloch brothers, owner of Scapa the
same year.
When business seemed to become better in the 30's, Glen Scotia was the only distillery
who resumed production, because most of the 28 others had completely dismantled
their installations.
The Bloch brothers sold both distilleries to Hiram Walker in 1954. Walker kept
Scapa but sold Glen Scotia to A. Gilles & Co, group which became part of
a blenders company called Amalgameted Distillers Products who closed the distillery
in 1984 before they were taken over by Gibson International in 1989.
Glen Scotia belongs currently to the Loch Lomond Distillery
company through its subsidiary company Glen Catrine Bonded. It has been mothballed
from 1994 and is for sale since 1999. In the meanwhile, the distillery is ticking
over under control of Springbank who produces
during 3 months a year, waiting for an eventual resumption of Glen Scotia.

The geography

Photos of the distillery

Photos by Tony TTN

Visit comments

Even a quick visit, even without entering the buildings, of a
distillery which is supposed to be haunted is a touching experience.
That the ghost of a former manager of the distillery still walks
around the distillery is not known for sure, but the mood
around there does not need a ghost to be strange. The distillery
itself is just a kind of ghost.
Its owner, Loch Lomond, who also owns Littlemill in
the suburbs of Glasgow seems to neglect his distilleries. Nothing
is sader than seing the decay state of Glen Scotia. Or perhaps
the only sader thiing is the state of Littlemill...
Perchance, the only concurring distillery in town, Springbank insures
Glen Scotia's production, running the business nearly 3 months
a year.
Glen Scotia is also and above all an important trace of the past
magnificence ot that town which called itself the world capital
of whisky in the early years of 20th century.
The poetry of the cherry trees in blossom contrasts with the sad
mood you feel when you to through the metal gate.... But, what
a whisky!!!

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